Meeting Bloggers In Real Life | The Gypsy Kramer Crew

If my sister gets tired of working at the library, I figure she can get a job as a blogger matchmaker. A few months ago, she told me about Nina and Bill from GypsyKramer. She thought I would like their blog because it is about boat stuff. Whenever my sister says boat stuff, she always has a certain perplexed tone to her voice. Why people can get excited about boats, let alone write entire blogs about them, is utterly and completely beyond her. In her mind, I think it ranks right up there with cleaning out the lint from the dryer.

While she looks at the pictures, I'm not sure she has read too much of Nina and Bill's blog because it is about boat stuff. But she knew I would like them and their blog, not just because of all of the boat stuff, but because they're interesting and fun and, much more importantly, they're library people. She works with Nina and Bill at the library and one day (in between shelving books, helping people find reference materials about garden slug poetry, reminding the heroin junkies that shooting up in the stacks really isn't appreciated or whatever else it is that library people do), she told them about my boat, they told her about their boat, a bloggy match was made and I started following their blog.

Here's what I learned about Nina and Bill from their blog - they're insane little nutter-butters. You'd have to be a bit crazy to do the kind of refit that they're doing on their Cascade 36 sailboat, S/V Gypsy. Their boat was made in Portland, Oregon 41 years ago, so it was time for an overhaul. I'm older than their boat, so I can relate to the whole overhaul idea. They're addressing some structural issues, making some cosmetic changes and doing some modifications to the cabin (like adding a bookshelf, which isn't a huge surprise as they're library people). 

Every spare minute and every spare dime they have is being spent on transforming their boat into something magical. Not only is it magical, it's sparkly and shiny! I should know because my sister and I got to see Gypsy at Nina and Bill's boat launch party when I was out in Portland. Gypsy was hauled out 37 weeks ago at Becker Enterprises in St Helens, where work began. Two weeks ago, Nina and Bill splashed Gypsy and brought her back to her slip at the Rose City Yacht Club and invited folks around to ooh and aah at the transformation to date. It was so much fun to see all Gypsy's new magic, sparkle and shine and hear about Nina and Bill's plans for the refit down below.

But what was even more fun was getting to know Nina and Bill in real life. And my sister was right - they're great folk. I can't wait to meet up with them on the water one day once they retire and set off cruising full-time!

Rose City Yacht Club on the Columbia River

  

S/V Gypsy looking pretty in the water!

Such a shiny portlight!

Fresh paint everywhere!

 

These are the poshest fender covers I have ever seen. All they need are gold tassels to complete the look.

 

Even the engine is sparkly and clean.

 

They've still got a bit of work to do down below, but it is going to look amazing when it's done!

 
I'll leave you with some library jokes in honor of Nina, Bill and my sister.

• Why didn't the thief burgle the library? Because he was afraid the librarian would give him a long sentence. 
• What did one book say to the other? I want to see if we're on the same page.
• What do you do if your pet starts eating a library book? Take the words right out of their mouth.

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